Tom Thumb (fairy tale character)

E594339

Tom Thumb is a tiny boy from English folklore whose adventures, often involving being swallowed or escaping dangerous situations through his small size, have made him a classic fairy-tale character.

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Observed surface forms (3)

Surface form Occurrences
Tom Thumb 4
Little Thumbling 1
Tom Thumb in Tom Thumb 1

Statements (48)

Predicate Object
instanceOf fairy tale character
fictional child
folklore character
literary character
adaptedAs animated films
children's books
puppet shows
stage plays
appearsInGenre children's literature
fairy tale
associatedPeriod early modern English folklore
associatedWithTheme dangers of the wider world
survival through wit
underdog triumph
countryOfOrigin England
culture English folklore
escapeMethod uses small size to escape danger
fameRegion English-speaking world
fictionalUniverse English fairy tales
firstKnownLanguage English
gender male
influenced later tiny-hero characters in literature
literaryStatus classic fairy-tale character
moralAspect curiosity can lead to danger
wit can overcome physical weakness
narrativeFunction figure of comic adventure
figure of peril and escape
narrativeRole protagonist
notableCharacteristic cleverness
mischievousness
resourcefulness
thumb-sized body
very small size
parentageInFolklore childless couple wishes for a tiny son
son of a poor peasant couple
partOf British folk-tale tradition
recursIn multiple variants of English folk tales
riskPattern frequently in life-threatening situations
sizeRelativeToHumans as small as a thumb
storyElements magic
rural English setting
talking animals or giants
storyType tale of a miraculous child
targetAudience children
typicalMotif being swallowed by animals or giants
escaping from the belly of a creature
getting into trouble because of small size
traveling inside animals or objects

Referenced by (7)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Tales of Mother Goose hasMainCharacter Tom Thumb (fairy tale character)
this entity surface form: Tom Thumb
Tales of Mother Goose hasPart Tom Thumb (fairy tale character)
this entity surface form: Tom Thumb
Tales of Mother Goose hasPart Tom Thumb (fairy tale character)
this entity surface form: Little Thumbling
Tom Thumb namedAfter Tom Thumb (fairy tale character)
subject surface form: Tom Thumb (locomotive)
Perrault notableWork Tom Thumb (fairy tale character)
subject surface form: Charles Perrault
this entity surface form: Tom Thumb
Russ Tamblyn notableWork Tom Thumb (fairy tale character)
this entity surface form: Tom Thumb
Russ Tamblyn playedCharacter Tom Thumb (fairy tale character)
this entity surface form: Tom Thumb in Tom Thumb